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Handcuffs Off: Zoellick Attacks

As soon as the June 15th deadline for alternative nominations for the World Bank presidency passed, Robert Zoellick, the presumptive nominee, let loose with an attack on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. Is it a coincidence that Chavez is the Bush Administration’s favorite enemy of the moment? No prizes for guessing whose water Zoellick will be carrying at the World Bank.

4 thoughts on “Handcuffs Off: Zoellick Attacks”

I disagree. Zoellick is an investment banker from an investment bank that has long understood the unsustainability of Hugo’s economic plan. Castrodom doesn’t work anywhere it’s tried and that’s exactly where Chavez is taking Venezuela – yesterday he announced 200 new arms factories to be run by the government and urged Venezuelans ‘not to be afraid.’ He wouldn’t say that if he knew they weren’t afraid. He also announced a full program of Cuban-style centralization and central planning, the same sort of economic plan that enabled Soviet factories to churn out 100,000 left baby shoes and no right ones, that kind of ‘planning.’ It’s getting scary over there, the food shelves are emptying due to this central planning. This has nothing to do with morality, or favoring one ideology over another, it has everything to do with what works and what doesn’t. You can’t make an economy work on Chavez’s ideas. No one can. Chavez is creating an economic meltdown in Venezuela. I think Zoellick is trying to entice him to leave the system so that the bank will not have to bail Venezuela out when it inevitably crashes. That’s all that was behind it, you can ask any investment banker about the sustainability of Chavez’s plan and he’ll tell you pretty much what Zoellick said. If anything, Bush has an interest in keeping Venezuela in the world bank because of america’s dependence on imported oil from venezuela. Zoellick is far more independent.

This Bush vs. Chavez superficiality is getting a little old. Just a few weeks the US senate passed a resolution condemning Mr. Chavez for the closing of RCTV the country’s oldest and most popular TV station. The resolution – which was unanimously approved by the entire US seanate – was sponsored by Sen. Dodd and co-sponsored by Senators Kennedy, Clinton, Obama, Biden, Nelson(Florida)..are you saying that these also carry water for Mr. Bush? If you guys work for the WB or know something about failed societies you should be focused on what Chavez has done to Venezuela and not what Mr. Zoellick states with the facts on hand.

I fully agree. Zoellick clearly demonstrated his bond to U.S. Foreign Policy. Though this is hardly surprising, it would be preferable for rebuilding the Bank to state such things in a softer/low key tone.

A short note: Zoellick is a political animal through and through, his recent placement at Wall Street was certanly never intended o be more than a “hide-out” before reentering politucs. I would never consider this guy an investment banker, but he certainly is a politician with very good contacts to wall Street (remember this when analysing Bank policy to come)